Sundial by Sandra Cox

Sandra Cox is one of the founding members of Story Empire, the collaborative effort I posted about recently. She's here to tell us about one of her books that on sale right now for the incredible price of 99¢. Take it away, Sandra.

Time Travel Vehicles

If you could travel back in time and could choose your vehicle to get there what would it be? In stories, I’ve seen cars, mirrors, paintings used…the list goes on. For my time travel, I chose a sundial.

Sundials date back to thirteen century B.C. and at least one has survived from that time period. Over the centuries, can you imagine the energy that has been stored in that stone? Perhaps enough to carry someone into the past……

Blurb:

He came through time to find her.

As Sarah Miles drives down Eighteenth Street a stranger materializes in front of her car. She throws on her brakes, braces for impact and…drives straight through him. For a brief moment, his voice echoes in her head, “Saura.” Then he's gone. Later that day, she discovers the SUNDIAL and her incredible journey through time begins.

Excerpt:

A purple haze of gunpowder hung in the air that filled her nose and mouth with the acrid smell and taste of sulfur. Her eyes watered and burned.

A sharp burst of gunfire sounded nearby. Fifes and a drum played a tune she didn’t recognize. Cries of, “Remember the Alamo. Remember Goliad,” echoed through the air, overriding screams of agony.

Oh, my God! She clutched Monet and stumbled to her feet. The Alamo? Goliad? Screams too real to be an enactment lifted the hair on the back of her neck. Goosebumps roughened her skin.

In front of her, over a thousand men were doing their best to kill each other.

They wore clothes from another era. Some were dressed in nondescript gray denim; some in white roundabout jackets and pantaloons; some in brown jackets and pants; all carried rifles, clubs, knives and tomahawks and all were bent on slaughtering men dressed in blue uniforms and shako hats.

A cannon blast rumbled. The ground shook.

Where am I? In the back of her mind, a fear too unbelievable to acknowledge grew. Along with terror, a growing sense of urgency bubbled in her like a volcano ready to erupt.

She edged closer to the battlefield and scanned faces for the beloved features of her lover. She’d lost him once—no, twice. She couldn’t lose him again.

 

On sale for .99 September 19-25 at Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/gardensundial

Bio:

Sandra writes YA Fantasy, Romance, and Metaphysical Nonfiction. She lives in sunny North Carolina with her husband, a brood of critters and an occasional foster cat. The last animal member of the family, a kitten, came hurtling out of the woods in southern Illinois to land at her feet. He made the trek back to North Carolina with her and her husband, and wasted no time settling into the household.

Although shopping is high on the list, her greatest pleasure is sitting on her porch, listening to the birds, sipping coffee or a latte and enjoying a good book. She's a vegetarian and a Muay Thai enthusiast.

 

Girls in hats

There’s just something about girls in hats. I can’t explain it, but they catch my eye, and it has nothing to do with how they look beyond that. I know I’m a very visual person, and maybe that’s it. The woman under the hat could be any size, shape, color, or age and I would still look.

In traditional fashion, I checked the television for the Kentucky Derby pre-game show this morning.

There wasn’t one. They always have some alternate channel that runs all day and shows parties, histories, old races, in a big lead up to the race. There are always plenty of girls in hats too. Did they kill the hype since there was a triple crown winner last year? I have no idea, but it’s kind of a let down.

Keep in mind that I’m always paying attention for Lisa the robot’s next outfit too. The network had a nice, even if shortened, pre-race show. I was able to get my girls in hats fix, but may have to google some later on. Check these out:

Enter a captionImage borrowed from NBC

Maybe it’s because they always look happy. The race was great, and congratulations to Nyquist and his team.

Why didn’t I think ahead and order some Lisa goes to the Kentucky Derby artwork? It could have made for a fun post. There’s always next year.

I used my disappointment time to get a tiny bit of work done. I read through and marked up all of my critique group assignments. I made sure to put them in the truck, because I’m prone to forget them.

The 99¢ sale for The Playground went live this morning. To be real honest with you, The Playground hasn’t been selling quite like my previous efforts. Maybe a sale early on can jar things loose. If any of you are interested, it will be at this price for a short time. Everyone who’s read it enjoyed it, just saying.

Then there was the promotion of the sale. I hit it on Twitter a few times, and in the WhatsApp room operated by the Rave Reviews Book Club. I even talked Lisa into posting it on her Facebook page.

I did some work on future Lisa Burton Radio interviews. Before Monday, I need to assemble the next one and get it scheduled. I also have a writing cabin style post I need to get written. It will probably post on Monday, and I think it’s for a good cause.

Then there is reading. It’s so hard to find reading time these days. I promised someone a read and review on a graphic novel, and need to get to it. I’m still working on a novel I wanted to read, and it’s taken nearly three weeks now. It’s a good novel, but finding a little quality time has been hard.

Yesterday was payday, and I still have to pay the bills. We’re doing something for date night tonight, but I think we’re probably doing it on the cheap.

I need to prioritize the next interview tomorrow, and the Writing Cabin post. We have tickets to Captain America tomorrow, and will watch Game of Thrones. Somewhere in between I need to get more stuff accomplished.

Did anyone out there enjoy the Kentucky Derby? Did you work on writing projects, or something equally fun? Is anyone going to Captain America? What has the world been doing while I was ignoring it?